Gates Foundation to spend $50M on Ebola response

Gates Foundation to spend $50M on Ebola response

SEATTLE

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday that it will spend $50 million to support emergency response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, marking the group’s largest donation to a humanitarian effort.

The Seattle-based foundation said the money will go to the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and international organizations involved in fighting transmission of the virus.

The money will be used to purchase supplies and to develop vaccines, therapies and better diagnostic tools. The foundation wants to help stop the outbreak as well as accelerate development of treatments and improve prevention.

Toronto mayor has suspected tumor

TORONTO

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been admitted to a hospital and is believed to have a tumor in his abdomen, health officials said Wednesday.

Dr. Rueben Devlin from Humber Regional Hospital said Ford had been complaining of abdominal pains and that an examination has resulted in a working diagnosis of a tumor.

He said Ford had been suffering from stomach pains for at least three months and they had worsened in the last 24 hours.

Ford, 45, became an international celebrity last year after he acknowledged using crack in a “drunken stupor” after months of denials. The mayor returned to work in June after a rehab stint for drug and alcohol abuse and is running for re-election Oct. 27.

Devlin said doctors need to determine what type of tumor it is by doing a biopsy. He said he could not say how long Ford will be in the hospital.

Philly council moves to decriminalize pot

The Philadelphia City Council is expected to pass a bill decriminalizing marijuana next week, after a review of drug arrests showed that city police were overwhelmingly targeting black men and women when enforcing marijuana laws, city officials said Wednesday.

Mayor Michael Nutter and City Councilman James Kenney announced the agreement to decriminalize marijuana Wednesday, and Kenny will make necessary amendments to pass the bill at a council session today.

Once signed by Nutter, the measure will take effect Oct. 20.

Texas executes man

HUNTSVILLE, Texas

A man convicted of gunning down his former common-law wife and her brother more than two decades ago in Houston was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday evening.

Willie Trottie’s execution was carried out about 90 minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last-day appeals. He had contended he had poor legal help at his trial and questioned the potency of the execution drug.

FDA approves weight-loss drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval Wednesday of the new weight-loss drug Contrave, a mix of antidepressant and alcohol-dependence medications.

The drug, which is intended to be used along with a low-calorie diet and exercise, is approved for use in obese adults or overweight adults who also suffer a weight-related condition, such as high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes, according to regulators.

The medication, manufactured by Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. of La Jolla, Calif., combines the drugs naltrexone, which is used to treat alcohol and opioid dependence, and the drug bupropion, which is prescribed for depression, seasonal affective disorder and smoking cessation.

Combined dispatches